Nat Notices
by doctoring
Summary: There's a reason Nat was able to spot Kevin's feelings for Edd and help spur things along. He's been watching this whole time.
1. Coffee Hideout

_A/N: This is a prequel to "Finding the Nurse's Aide" and ends at the very start of that story. It can be read as a stand-alone though._  
_This will also be posted in real times, so whenever the chapter takes place is when the chapter will be posted... so there may be delays between chapters. Thanks for understanding!_

* * *

Nathan watched as Edd tilted his head back, gently resting it on the locker as he closed his eyes.

He couldn't help but smirk at how adorable he looked, even though he was clearly annoyed. Well, not _clearly_. That long and loud sigh could have meant anything, honestly.

He prods Edd in the shoulder.

And again.

And a third time.

Until Edd finally sighs again and says, "Fine. We can go for coffee. I'm available-"

Nat shouts for joy, and pulls Edd forward, away from the locker, to drag him off on their pseudo-date.

"Nathan, unhand me!"

"Nope! Not until we get to the coffee shop!"

"But I can't go now! I have Chemistry Club! REMEMBER!?"

"Oh! Right…" Nathan said sheepishly as he let go of Edd. He then returned the Chemistry Club notebook he stole, having held it as ransom to get this cutie to agree to go out for coffee, dinner, a movie, whatever else he could get away with. Anything. He's been trying to get with Edd for a month now, but to no avail, so he'll take what he can get at this point.

Edd hastily took the notebook from him, examine the notebook for creases, and started heading in the opposite direction, towards the science wing.

"Okay, but coffee?" Nat called out before jogging to catch up with him.

"As I was saying before you became… overzealous… I'm available tomorrow after school."

Nat deflated for a moment but decided he would take the shot. "Works for me! I'll meet you at your locker as soon as school's out."

"I'm sure you will," Edd mumbled, thinking back on how Nathan had done exactly that every day for the past week.

Nat watched Edd go for a minute, before running towards the athletic fields for baseball practice.

Nat saw Edd afterschool and couldn't help but dwell on how attractive he looked that day. He was about to tell him so, when Ed walked by yelling, "See you tomorrow, Double D!"

_Double D, huh? More like Double Delicious._

And so, Nat spent more of their coffee shop visit calling him every flirtatious nickname he could think of.

Double Delicious.

Double Delightful.

Double Darling.

Double Delectable.

The list went on, albeit it, it was punctuated by him asking getting-to-know-you questions and occasionally trying to convince Edd that they should swap numbers.

And each time one of those nicknames were said, Edd turned more and more red as he tried to ignore his advanced.

_He's just playing hard to get, like he does whenever he refuses to call me "Nat." _

After about 15 minutes of this, Edd suddenly jerks his head to the window and squints.

"What's wrong?" Nat asked, leaning across the table to look out the window as well.

As soon as Nat saw Kevin, he leaned back into his chair as far as possible and started slinking down. He rubbed his hands over his face and held them there as he started stressing.

_I freaking told Kevin I had a killer stomachache to get out of dinner plans with him… so I can go get coffee with Edd. And now he's here!_

_Fuck. Me._

Nat breathed heavily into his hands, trying to calm down. He was sending out thoughts to whomever was listening in the universe to make Kevin keep walking and _not_ enter the coffee shop. He peaks out between his fingers, to see if his wish was being granted, but was met with an even more interesting sight.

Edd was blushing and fidgeting.

The flush was worse than when Nat was laying down all the nicknames and flirty comments. The fidgeting was less of an annoyed nature and more of a nervous nature. And to top it all off, the prim and proper Edd was also slouching in his seat, trying to hide behind a plant as he continued to peek out at Kevin.

Nat wasn't even sure if Edd was into men. Nat's only been trying to get him to agree to a date because he was cute, and Nat was curious. Curious about Edd, curious to see if he even stood a chance, and curious to see if he would even know what to do with someone so innocent.

And now, Nat believes he may have the answer to one of those curious inquiries. Edd might just be interested in men, but not the one he's drinking coffee with currently, judging by the way he's panicking and mumbling "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear" as Kevin continues to stand just a few feet away from the window.

_Maybe Double Delight prefers natural redhead to bottle teal._

_This is interesting._

_Very interesting._


	2. The Dork Table

One Friday in May, the baseball team had an away game, so the boys had to go to first lunch and miss the rest of their classes.

Nat was stoked about this, his worst classes were the later classes, but he was a little upset that he wouldn't get to see Edd in last period, though. They sat on opposite sides of the classroom, and there was almost never any group work or some other kind of opportunity to interact, but Nat enjoyed having a class with Edd.

He honestly wasn't _that_ sulky about not getting to see Edd that day, not since his month-long curiosity was extinguished by Kevin's presence right outside the coffeeshop window. He just shrugged it off and went to the cafeteria during the first lunch period, along with Kevin and the rest of the baseball team. They grabbed their trays and set up shop on the far end of the cafeteria, where extra tables were set up for the team.

Within moments, Nat went from indifferent to absolutely ecstatic, when his most recent scan of the students of first lunch revealed a very familiar gap-toothed boy.

"Shit, it's the dorks," Kevin mumbled, breaking Nat's focus. Nat looked over and saw that Kevin had spotted Edd too, along with Ed and Eddy, all sitting together two tables away. He watched as Kevin shook his head, before stabbing his green beans with a fork a bit too angrily.

"You have a problem with those guys?"

Kevin shrugged. "Just didn't expect to see the dork table here."

Nat continued with his lunch, half-heartedly responding to the conversation around him, but spent the majority of his focus on Kevin. He didn't understand why Kevin kept looking at "the dork table" if he was clearly so bothered by it and the occupants of it, but he did. Kevin seemed to keep his eyes on that table, only looking away to eat.

Nat started making mental notes of Kevin's reaction to that table.

Kevin would glare every time Eddy shouted or bickered, which was easy to overhear considering how close they were to the table.

_But this isn't different from any other day. Kevin would glare at Eddy for just breathing._

Kevin would sometimes smile, very subtly. It was as if he was a hair too amused to be considered just content. There, but only minimally.

It took a while for Nat to piece that one together. Nat wasn't sure if that barely noticeable smile was due to Ed joking around, Edd laughing, or a combination of two. Kevin seemed to enjoy Ed goofing off, chuckling quietly twice at Ed's jokes, though Nat would probably never get him to admit it. Kevin also seemed to enjoy watching Edd laugh at his antics. That one was even harder to get Kevin to admit, but Nat was surer about it.

Towards the end of lunch, Nat saw Edd throw his head back in laughter before quickly regaining just enough composure to remember to cover up his mouth with his hand as he giggled. Nat quickly snapped his head towards Kevin. Kevin, of course, was watching. But instead of a sly smile and maybe a quiet giggle, Kevin looked as though he was fighting back a grin or a laugh… and failing. He also looked as though-

_DAMMIT. FOR FUCK'S SAKE. Dude wears his cap backwards 24/7 and decides to turn it around NOW of all times. Any other time you have the bill in the back as you squint in the sunlight. But nooooo… Nat wants to get a good look so you fucking hide behind your cap, trying to play it off as getting the sun out of your eyes… WHEN WE ARE INDOORS. Fucking dumbass. I swear._

Nat sat there fuming. It had appeared that Kevin's ears were turning red, but that may have just been wishful thinking. Nat had thought Kevin's face was started to flush beneath all those freckles, right when that hat was turned around, thus preventing him from knowing for sure, from seeing if he did start laughing or smiling, or from seeing any other telltale signs of amusement.

He wasn't sure he saw Kevin blushing, but he likes to believe he did.


	3. Double Feature

That summer's blockbuster was actually a sequel. So, for their Friday double feature special, the movie theatres nearby were playing the first film along with the new release. Add in the fact that it was also 4th of July weekend, and you could understand why Kevin wanted to avoid the theater at all costs. It was guaranteed to be the biggest crowd all summer, by far, and the fact that they had to add more showtimes both earlier in the day and late at night due to sold out shows helped support that claim.

Kevin was NOT going to go.

No way. No how.

Even after Nat had won two free tickets to the double feature.

Even after Nat had picked up the tickets to see that they were for the _good_ theater with recliner seats that you have to reserve, in this case, the middle seats on the back row, Kevin's preferred seating.

Even after Nat promised to buy any concessions Kevin wanted.

Even after he also said he'll bring his bag so that they can sneak in a giant burrito from the local Mexican place.

Wait. No. That did it for Kevin.

They first joked about sneaking in a burrito to the movies a year ago. They bring it up every time they eat at that restaurant before the movies. But now that Nat's actually going to do it, well, Kevin finally caved and agreed to go.

Though Nat already had the tickets, they still had to wait in line for concessions. When he wasn't adjusting the bag on his shoulder, trying to get the burrito from burning a hole in his back, Nat spent the time people watching and pointing peculiar things out to Kevin.

Kevin was not amused. He wanted to get his food and head into the theater ASAP, the loud crowd outside was getting to him. Nat was starting to feel bad.

"Hey, if you just tell me what you want, you can go ahead and-" Nat cut himself short when he looked over towards the far concession counter. "Dude. Look!"

Kevin looked over, glaring, then suddenly opened his eyes impossibly wide.

_Bingo!_

"Looks like the dork trio is also here… Wonder what movie they're seeing."

"Yeah… I wonder…" Kevin mumbled.

Nat gave him a confused look. His comment was meant to be sarcastic since both Eddy and Ed were clearly cosplaying as characters from the blockbuster they were currently about to go see.

As he was giving Kevin the stink-eye, he sees Kevin's face light up, grinning widely. Nat looks back over to the dorks, and see Edd doubled over in laughter, holding his sides with his hands, and Ed clearly struggles to get his hand unstuck from Eddy's cosplay.

Nat suddenly remembered the incident in April, when Edd noticed Kevin outside the coffee shop, and kept peaking over at him, but was also trying his hardest not to be seen himself. Kevin seemed to be doing the same, though there was a lot less focus on not being seen at the moment.

_I really shouldn't be reading into things like this… but I feel like I'm already on the second novel… _

Nat wanted to test his theory. "Hey, if this crowd is getting to you, you can go head in now and I'll bring the concessions to you."

"Nah. It's okay." Kevin said quietly, barely sparing a glance towards Nat.

_Who the fuck is this dude?_

"Well, wanna stand in line and get the concessions _all by yourself_ while I go take a leak?"

"Sure. Whatever." Kevin holds out his hand for Nat's money, but keeps grinning towards Edd, who's now laughing behind his hands.

Nat shakes his head at Kevin. _The poor idiot is long gone._

He hands over the cash and heads to the toilets, purposely taking the long way around so he has to pass near Edd.

Edd looks up and catches his eyes. Nat grins widely and waves to Edd. When Edd waves back, Nat looks past him and sees Kevin's worried look. He gets a wicked idea.

He stops dead in his tracks, cups his hands over his mouth, and shouts, "Kevin! Don't forget the Twizzlers!"

Edd whips his head around towards the other side. Nat sees the moment Edd spots Kevin, how he starts turning red, and slowly raises his hand as if to wave. Kevin smirks and waves at Edd, who gives him a subtle finger wave in return. As Nat continues to walk away, he sees Edd turn, facing the front of his line, while tugging on his hat, pulling it down towards his flushed cheeks. Nat peeks back at Kevin, who's giving Edd a considering look while rubbing the back of his neck.

_Yeah. There's definitely something going on there, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I'll fucking play cupid if I need to, cause this shit's cute as fuck._


	4. Girl's Night

It's the Saturday before the start of the semester, and Kevin is crashing at Nat's place for one of their last free Saturdays together before school and high school football season starts.

When Kevin arrives and starts to pull video games out of his bag, Nat stops him, pushing at his hands to make Kevin put the games away.

"Dude. What's up?"

"I'm… I'm not feeling video games right now…"

Kevin quirks an eyebrow at him.

"I'm in a mood."

"Oh dear lord," Kevin mumbles. "What kind of _mood _are we talking about?"

Nat runs to his bathroom, and comes back with an armful of supplies. Korean face masks. Peeling foot masks. Moisturizers. And several other things Kevin couldn't identify because they were not labeled.

Kevin sighs heavily and picks up a brightening cherry blossom face mask. He rips open the package and says, "Fuck it."

Nat stood there for a while, in shock that he wasn't going to have to fight Kevin into submission.

He watches as Kevin pulls out the slimy, folded up sheet mask, looking at it half confused and half disgusted. "The fuck do I do with this?"

Nat doesn't answer. Instead he shouts, "GIRLS' NIGHT!" and snatches up a mask for himself from the pile.

He quickly queues up _To All the Boy I've Ever Loved_ before helping Kevin put on his face mask.

They watched the movie in silence, long enough to be done with the face mask and for Nat to start filing his nails. When he finishes, he looks over at Kevin, wondering if he could get away with it. He grabs Kevin's hand, prompting him to look over with a half-hearted glare. Nat just maintains eye contact as he slowly attempts to file Kevin's thumb nail. Kevin just relaxed his face and turns back to the movie.

_Shit. He's completely compliant_, Nat thinks, as he files Kevin's nails for him. _I might actually be able to get some information out of him._

"So… would you ever be like homegirl here and write letters to your crushes?"

"Hell nah."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters, the whole fucking plot of this movie. I don't want the whole damn world to know, especially via emotion-soaked letters."

"Fair. But what if you just write the letters then burn them or something?"

Kevin shakes his head. "Nope. Defeats the whole point then, doesn't it?"

"So how do you deal with your feelings for your crush?"

Kevin pulls his hand back from Nat. "The fuck you mean?"

Nat snatches the other hand, filing it. "I mean… do you just suppress your emotions for your crush or-"

"What crush!?" Kevin snaps.

"What crush, indeed." Nat smirks.

"Fuck off, Nat. I don't have a crush on anyone."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive."

"You're not even a little interested in anyone? Just slightly curious? Just a smidge?"

"Not even a hair," Kevin said, tugging at a lock of teal hair, prompting a yelp and death glare from Nat. "I'm seriously not interested in anyone right now. Not like that."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nat mumbled, still rubbing the top of his head.

_Dude either thinks I'm dumb as hell or he's just that oblivious of his own feelings… which is likely for Kevin... Gonna have to push him a little._


	5. Back to School

The first week of school Nat regretfully didn't have any classes with Edd, but he had a few with Kevin.

There was no practice on the first day of school, to allow the student athletes to get oriented to school life. Which, naturally, meant that Nat and Kevin didn't even try to get oriented to school life, but instead decided to head to Kevin's place after school and see how long they can ignore their first day of class homework assignments.

As soon as the bell rang for the end of the school day, Nat made his way to Kevin's locker. He turned the corner and spotted two familiar hats. Nat tried his best to not squeal in excitement while ignoring how his heart was soaring.

He quickly dashed across the hall and snuck towards the next set of lockers, hoping to tuck himself in the awkward space between the lockers and the water fountain, so he can spy on the two boys. Luckily the hall was just deserted enough for Nat to hear bits and pieces of the conversation.

"Telling us we are guaranteed to watch a video every week? How is that supposed to excite and engage the class? I'm nodding off just hearing about it, and it hasn't even happened yet!"

Nat noted the shake of Kevin's shoulders as he quietly laughed at Edd's frustration over their AP government class.

He couldn't help but think that Edd looked adorable as he tugged on the edge of his hat in frustration.

He caught Kevin's reply of "Yeah, it's going to probably be our-mine… my most boring class this year…" before Kevin trailed off to something else, talking too quietly for Nat to hear.

As a mass of students headed towards the front of the school, he heard Kevin talk about the new English teacher. Edd excitedly continued the conversation, clutching his notebook to his chest, while Kevin relaxed against his still closed locker.

_Shit. Has Kevin been too distracted by Edd to even go to his locker yet?_

Soon, Edd mentioned something about the nurse's office, though Nat had a hard time catching the full sentence. As he momentarily worried if Edd had gotten injured or sick today, Ed ran by, shouting.

Nat was pissed for a second when Ed spotted Edd and ran up to him, rubbing his head roughly, shifting the hat around, effectively disrupting the conversation between Kevin and Edd.

But Nat was _living_ for the results of that run-by. Kevin had subtly tugged at Edd's notebook until he let go, allowing Kevin to hold the notebook for him. Edd, both hands free now, was able to readjust his hat and tuck a few stray locks of ebony hair back into his hat. Nat was bouncing on his heels in excitement at this small but adorable gesture.

Nat wasn't sure about the blushing in the past, but he could definitely see Kevin blush this time, the change in color clear on his ears and the back of his neck.

As Kevin was handing the notebook back, Nat got distracted by Eddy's loud voice ringing in the hall. Nat was so invested in watching his ship possibly sailing, that he didn't catch what Eddy said, but judging by Edd's and Kevin's reaction, it had to do with Edd's departure for the day.

He saw Kevin frown and lean over, looking past Edd, towards Eddy, slowly narrowing his eyes at him. Edd looked a little frazzled and quickly apologized before hurrying off.

Kevin composed himself, a "See ya," halfway out his mouth, but not quickly enough, since Edd had already turned away from him. Nat observed the way Kevin continued to watch Edd scurry down the hall, looking a bit sad, but a ghost of a smile still on his face.

Nat was still a bit uncertain about Edd's feelings towards Kevin. Edd might just be super shy or uncomfortable with certain social situations, but there will still plenty of evidence for Nat to keep his hopes up.

But Kevin was a different story. Nat thought back to a few nights ago, when Kevin had denied liking anyone at all, realizing that Kevin was indeed in denial. It was clear to Nat that Kevin liked Double Delightful quite a bit. He's seen Kevin get brief crushes before, but he's never smiled like a fool, blushed, or had his focus completely preoccupied by the other person.

Yup, Kevin had a thing for the nerd. He just hasn't realized it yet. But that's okay. Nat was going to fix that for him, he was sure of it.


	6. Read into It

A/N: Sorry for being MIA for so long. But here it is! The last chapter!

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One Sunday in October, Nat went to hang out at Kevin's place to play a new shooter game. As he pulled up, he sees Edd sitting on the sidewalk. Nat was surprised to see Edd outside of school, and quickly cut the engine and rushed out of his vehicle.

He saw Edd abruptly stand and run past the mailbox and towards the house he was in front of. That's when Nat noticed it for the first time. The faded "VINCENT" on the side of the mailbox.

_Holy. Fucking. Shit. Double Cutie has been living this close to Kevin all this time!?_

Edd's fate was now sealed.

"Yo, Double Delightful! You live here?"

Edd technically didn't answer but he was holding his house keys as he was turning from the front door of the house he ran towards, and that was answer enough for Nat.

Nat immediately decided to welcome Edd over to hang out with him and Kevin and invited him the first chance he got. Edd seemed a bit surprised by the invite, but Nat thought he was about to agree to tag along, when he realized that Edd might have taken offense at the wording.

_It's not that serious. Sure, it's Kevin's house, not mine, but I'm pretty dang positive he'll be happy to see you._

Before Nat could press the issue any further, Ed shows up, saying something about the comic book store. Nat quickly processes his shock that Ed lives here too, before deciding that he should probably make his exit now. He bids the boys farewell and makes his way back across the street to Kevin's house.

As soon as Kevin opens the door, Nat pushes past him and immediately asks, "So why the hell did you _not_ tell me that two of the three Eds live on the same street as you?"

"Huh?"

"You got two-thirds of the dork trio here. The better two-thirds, and-"

"That's incorrect."

Nat flings himself onto the couch. "HOW IS THAT INCORRECT!? I JUST SAW-"

"It's all of them!" Kevin snaps back. "All the dorks live here."

Nat sat upright in shock. "Shit."

"Yeah."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I need to? Do you want me to give you everyone's address for the street? From Double D's place, all the way 'round to Johnny's, then back towards my address?"

"Tree-hugger lives here too!?"

Kevin groaned before setting up for hours of mind-numbing video games.

"So, how often do you see the dorks outside of school?"

"Too often," Kevin mumbled.

"Seriously dude. Do you guys hang out?"

Kevin gives him a displeased look.

"Fine, fine. Well, what about… let's just say… Double D… You see him a lot outside of school?"

Kevin shrugs before resuming his struggle with the HDMI cable. "I guess. I mean, he lives basically across from me, just one house down. So, I do _see_ him a bit."

"You know what I mean, ass-hat. Do you guys like, hang out and shit?"

Kevin, kneeling on the floor trying to get the set up right, leans back on his heels. "I mean… we used to. We used to be super close actually, back in middle school. He'd hang around me as much as he'd hang with the other dorks, sometimes more, if you can believe it."

"I cannot believe you. You are clearly lying to me."

Kevin laughed. "Oh, it's true. We were super close, then kinda fell out. Haven't actually hung out with him for a few years… Kinda sucks, but that's life I suppose."

Nat thinks the look Kevin has constitute as one of those "far off dreamy looks," but he's not sure. He's still going to consider it as such though, because he wants this ship to _sail_, dammit.

"Yeah. That does suck. You both seem like you could be… quite good friends…"

Kevin gives him a slightly perturbed looked, before standing up and heading to the couch with two controllers.

As soon as they start the game, Nat asks, "So… what do you think of Double Delightful then?"

Nat figured he pushed his luck with his last statement and was fully expecting a dismissive answer such as "Whatever, dude, he's a dork," maybe with a slight blush if Nat was lucky. So needless to say, Nat was floored by Kevin's response.

"I think… I think he's interesting… He's not like the other two dorks. There's a lot more to him than you'd expect. I mean, we all know he's smart, but he's actually pretty brilliant in general, like with life and humanity and stuff. Probably why he has a heart of gold. I've…" Kevin pauses to kill a character by knife on screen. "I've never met anyone as kind and understanding as him. That's why we became so close to him to begin with. It's easy to open up to him, to be yourself. He's like a living safe space. A human vault of secrets. All because he genuinely cares and would do anything to help a friend in need."

Nat stopped playing the game in favor of gawking at Kevin, who was basically waxing poetry about Edd.

"And his hobbies are… interesting… They're not too far off to just be weird, but they're still far off enough to be unique. But he talks about them with such passion, the same way he talks about the people he cares about…"

Kevin suddenly stiffens his back and clears his throat. "I don't know… I guess he's just interesting enough to be cool, but I don't really hang out with him anymore. It's been _YEARS…_ so I…"

Nat see Kevin quint at the screen, correctly assuming Kevin stumbled upon Nat's motionless character. Kevin then snaps his head towards Nat. "Dude. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Nat slams his finger down on the pause button.

"Oh my god, you're totally into him!"

"Am not!"

"You so are! You want little Double Delicious all to yourself! You want to romance him and-"

"Shut it or I'll pound ya!"

"But you just said you were _intrigued _by-"

"No, what I said was that he was… _interesting_… that's all… Quit trying to read into shit."

_Oh, but I am going to "read into shit." Already have been, all summer. And I'm going to find all the dots and connect them. There's a ship here and it's fucking adorable and I'm going to make sure it sails because lord knows you're hopeless._

_Hopelessly into Edd._

The End.

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A/N: For everyone who's stuck through with the nurse's aide series. Thank you.  
Stay tuned for the final story in the series to be posted within the next few hours!


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